Atletico Madrid confirm talks with Ibrahimovic

Atletico Madrid president, Enrique Cerezo, has admitted that they held talks with Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s representatives. Cerezo however insists the La Liga club, would not pursue the opportunity of signing him.

Ibrahimovic was released by Manchester United after scoring 28 goals in 46 games and then suffering a knee ligament injury lasts season. AS reported that Ibrahimovic’s cousin Selman Yalcin, had spoken about Atletico’s interest. But the club’s transfer ban would mean they could only register him in January 2018, by which stage he would be likely to have returned to full fitness.

But Cerezo, speaking to reporters at an event to mark the renaming of a metro station outside Atletico’s new Wanda Metropolitano stadium, said: “Maybe we spoke with his family, but not with him. “We are taking another line. We can talk about it in January, when we can sign people, but I don’t think it will happen.” Cerezo said the ban was complicating any chance the club had of bringing Diego Costa back from Chelsea, adding: “The problem is that we cannot sign — if not for that, we would be delighted to try and improve the team a bit.”